As the light goes out (2014)

Director: Chi-Kin Kwok

Starring: Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue, Simon Yam

The firefighters of Hong Kong’s Pillar Point division battle an out-of-control blaze that threatens to plunge the city into darkness.

Since I’ve seen my share of fire fighter genre films, I was bound to compare this Cantonese film to the rest of them. I believe this to be the first Hong Kong film about fire fighters.

The most recent fire fighting film was South Korea’s ‘The Bravest’, which was excellent. Unfortunately – as hard as they obviously tried – ‘As the light goes out’ doesn’t have the same impact. The constant, unnecessary conflict between the characters was so distracting and Hollywood-cliched. I actually honestly didn’t really care about any of the characters. (And why name characters in a fire fighting film Ocean, and Water??) Even when the three kids were lost in the building, so little attention was given to them that I (conveniently) forgot about them. Also, why did the Station Officer sometimes speak to the firemen in English if they’re all Cantonese?

The film demonstrates how negligence can lead to catastrophe, which is aggravated by wrong decisions. There’s also some really good scenes – especially the explosion scenes. The choice of music is also very interesting, and very different, which I quite enjoyed.

Unfortunately, though, I just couldn’t get into the film. I found it too dramatic at times, and simply did not enjoy the storyline that much. This wasn’t bad, but I’ve certainly seen better.

‘As the light goes out’ won awards for Best Action Choreography and Best Actor. It received award nominations for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Original Film Score, Best Sound Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Film Song, Best Supporting Actor.

In Cantonese.

Would I watch it again? No, I’d rather watch ‘The Bravest’.